Overview of 1 Samuel, Adult Discipleship Class

Just to start, I apologize, I did not bring any written notes today or hard copy notes. I have PDFs too, so if any of you want those notes that I give to my Olive Tree students, you can hit me up via email on, yes. I like that idea even better. How about that? That would be great. That would be awesome if you could do that. Yeah, that would be great too. We’ll think about that, get that figured out.

But today we’re in 1 Samuel, so please turn in your Bibles to the book of 1 Samuel. The theme of this book, if we were to summarize it in its entirety, is the God who protects. Now, what’s really interesting about this is 1 Samuel was never intended to be divided from 2 Samuel. It’s one book, yet in our English Bibles, thanks to the Septuagint, they have been divided because of the length. And so it really is best understood together, but we are just going to study the first book here today.

As it pertains to authorship, Jewish tradition states that it was likely Samuel, and many go to 1 Chronicles 29.29 to see there that there is some sort of record compiled by Samuel, Nathan, and Gad, and that’s the idea from their perspective on this. It must have taken place during the time of the divided kingdoms, but it probably was before exile.

The focus of this book is on three different characters, three different people, and that’s how we can divide the book up. So you can look at the first section is all about Samuel, sort of his biography, chapters 1 through 7. The second section is all about Saul, King Saul, chapters 8 through 15. And the third is David, chapters 16 through 31.

Another important motif throughout this whole book is that God raises the humble and also tears down the proud. You know, we tend to look on external appearance, but God looks at the heart, and that’s brought up multiple times. It’s also important to avoid moralizing of the story. I know we’ve brought this up before, but like, for instance, if we were to go back to Genesis and look at the story of Cain and Abel, The sermon or the meaning of that text shouldn’t probably be, don’t kill people, right?

Like, I mean, that’s pretty low-hanging fruit. Like, I mean, if we’re struggling with that, I don’t know, maybe go see a therapist, biblical counselor. Sorry, Sophie. Yeah, go see someone about that. That’s problematic. But what we need to do is we need to understand it within Old Testament Israel’s context. So, let’s take a look at verse one.

It’s 1 Samuel 1.1, and since this is a big book, we’re gonna be kind of flying over it. It reads, now there was a certain man from Ramathayim, Zophim, from the hill country of Ephraim, and his name was Elkanah, the son of Jehoram, the son of Elihu, the son of Tohu, the son of Zuth, and Ephraimite. Now this is portraying, or sort of setting the backdrop for Samuel’s story, right? First chapters one through seven’s all about him, And even though it says Ephraimite here, I think it’s very likely that would have to do with more geographically, because if we were to take a look at 1 Chronicles 6, more of the priestly perspective of the history of Israel’s kings, rather than a prophetic perspective such as 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings, it says that this man was a Levite by birth. which would make Samuel qualified as a priest in his role as priest.

And many of you know this account, this man has two wives, Hannah and Penina. Penina had children, Hannah didn’t. And so the text in verse five says that she hadn’t had children because the Lord had closed her womb. The emphasis here is of God’s sovereign hand in this. And so we as the readers are already supposed to kind of be thinking something important is about to happen. Verse six, again, the Lord had closed her womb. God was sovereign in this.

But then eventually, she went up to worship. And when she went up to worship, verse 11 said that she made a vow and said, O Lord of hosts, if you will indeed look on the affliction of your maidservant and remember me and not forget your maidservant, but will give your maidservant a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life and a razor shall never come on his head. So Lord, if you provide me with a son, he is yours. And so one day when she was praying, Eli, the priest, thought that she was drunk. She was speaking and only her lips were moving. There was no sound. She told him that she wasn’t, verse 15, I am a woman oppressed in spirit. I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the Lord. And then Eli, the priest, told her in verse 17 to go in peace and said, may the God of Israel grant your petition that you have asked of him. And what’s so amazing is that in verse 19, we see the very end, it says, the Lord remembered her.

It doesn’t mean, once again, that God is somehow forgetting. It’s not like God’s like, oh man, I totally forgot about Hannah, right? As if God could ever forget being omniscient. But what we see here is more of like anthropomorphic language, kind of like human language. It’s not a one for one, but trying to teach us something about God still.

And whenever the text says God remembered, it always means God was faithful. God remembered, He was faithful. Israel didn’t remember Deuteronomy, and they were unfaithful to Him. And so she had the son Samuel, and then she brought him, since she committed him to the Lord, she brought him to be trained up by Eli.

An important part of this narrative, and perhaps one that gives us good perspective, not only for first Samuel, but also second Samuel, is Hannah’s song here in chapter two. And I think we should go ahead and read verses three through nine. She says in this, she’s praising God, very similar to Moses’ song in Exodus 15, but after verses 1 and 2, she says, The bows of the mighty are shattered, but the feeble gird on strength. Those who were full hire themselves out for bread, but those who were hungry cease to hunger. Even the barren gives birth to seven, but she who has many children languishes.

The Lord kills and makes alive. He brings down to Sheol and raises up. The Lord makes poor and rich. He brings low. He also exalts. He raises the poor from the dust. He lifts the needy from the ash heap to make him sit with nobles and inherit a seat of honor. For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s, and he set the world on them. He keeps the feet of his godly ones, but the wicked ones are silenced in darkness.

For not by might shall a man prevail. And then we should continue reading this at verse 10. Those who contend with the Lord will be shattered. Against them he will thunder in the heavens. The Lord will judge the ends of the earth, and he will give strength to his king and will exalt the horn of his anointed. This is prophetic.

Remember, we just got done with Ruth, right? And Ruth takes place in what time in the Bible, historically speaking? What other book does it overlap with? I know you know this. Yes, judges, right? It’s during the time of the judges that that took place, showing that God was still sovereign over his promise that the scepter would not depart from Judah in Genesis 49,

10. But there is no king here right now. And she in her song says that God will give strength to his king and will exalt the horn of his anointed. And so us reading this narrative should start to think, okay, who’s this king going to be? We’re setting ourselves up for an amazing showing of God’s providential hand.

And so eventually we see verses 12 through 17, it’s all about Eli’s sons were very wicked. Yes, very wicked. And so Samuel kind of, in the narrative, kind of replaces them in their role. And it says in verse 18 that Samuel was ministering before the Lord as a boy wearing a linen ephod. And I like verse 19, it’s just a sweet story.

It says, and his mother would make him a little robe and bring it to him from year to year when she would come up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. And I’m being a bit speculative here, but I think it’s fair to say that making those little robes probably took some time. And I’m sure that when she was making those robes, she was thinking much about her son. And I have to think she probably thought a lot about how she wasn’t able to have children and how God had provided her with Samuel and God’s faithfulness in that physical labor of just kind of repetitive motion of putting together a robe, just really, really sweet.

And then the end of verse 21 says, the boy Samuel grew before the Lord. It’s a good sign for Samuel. His sons, we see Eli ends up rebuking his sons. Eli, the one that oversees Samuel. In the following verses, we see verse 26, Samuel’s contrasted with them. He was growing in stature and in favor with both the Lord and with men.

God despises hypocritical worship as even was mentioned today. Talking in verse 29 about that, but then to verse 30, The Lord declares that those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me will be lightly esteemed. If you despise me by your hearts being far from me and still trying to give the appearance of religiosity, that is not something I will tolerate. And he promises in verse 35 to raise up for myself a faithful priest who will do according to what is in my heart and in my soul. And I will build him an enduring house and he will walk before my anointed always.

I think this points to Solomon’s time because once again, this is the history from the prophetic perspective, not the priestly one, not Chronicles. So it could point to first Kings as well. And this wouldn’t probably be Samuel because Samuel, his sons were unfaithful. And so it wouldn’t be that there would be this perpetual priesthood from him. And so it likely refers to Zadok, which Solomon replaced in 1 Kings 2. But it also kind of points to Christ as well, because he’s the perpetual high priest forever. You could say kind of typologically or theologically, it kind of does in a way.

We see in chapter three, the prophetic call of Samuel. that verse one says, word from the Lord was rare in those days and visions were infrequent. And so he just so happens to be sleeping and then he hears this voice and thinks it’s Eli’s voice, right? Samuel thinks it was Eli and then Eli eventually figures out and tells him in verse nine, tell him to speak Lord for your servant is listening. And so the Lord came again to Samuel in verse 10, it says, and stood and called as at other times, Samuel, Samuel, and Samuel said, speak where your servant is listening. The Lord said to Samuel, behold, I’m about to do a thing in Israel that which both ears of everyone who hears it will tingle.

In that day, I will carry out against Eli all that I have spoken concerning his house from beginning to end. Once again, God despises hypocritical worship. He looks at the heart, not just the external appearance. For I have told him that I am about to judge his house forever for their iniquity, which he knew about, because his sons brought a curse on themselves, and he did not rebuke them. And so once again, Eli’s shifting out of the picture.

Samuel’s coming to the forefront of the narrative. In verse 19, again, another emphatic statement showing Samuel’s the one you’re to focus on. It says, thus Samuel grew, and the Lord was with him, and let none of his words fail. In other words, he was not only being trained up as a priest, but he also was a prophet, right? In the Old Testament, Israel, it’s not like today with many people claiming prophecy, where it’s like kinda right, kinda not, like spiritual advice, we don’t really know, like there’s no way to measure it. Instead, these were authoritative declarations from God himself that were with 100% accuracy. The prophet was known for being a true prophet, for being 100% accurate.

And so Samuel is becoming, his ministry of a prophet is here as well. We’ll see as well in chapter seven that he’s also the last judge. So he’s a prophet, priest, and judge. And that shows that one person may hold multiple different offices in Israel, pointing to Christ as well.

Chapter four, the Philistines take the Ark. This is a highly problematic thing. The Philistines are fighting Israel and Israel thinks, hey, we’ve got a rabbit’s foot, we’ve got the Ark of the Covenant, our lucky charm, this will help us out. And God didn’t like that.

And so they lost in the battle and the Philistines took the Ark and Eli’s sons, verse 11, Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, they both died. And so then word comes back to Eli. Eli ends up dying as well. Verse 18, it said, when this messenger mentioned the Ark of God being, you know, obviously taken away, Eli fell off the seat backward beside the gate and his neck was broken and he died.

He was a judge for 40 years. But there’s a really interesting account of when the Philistines decide to try and use God as a means to their own ends too. And we see this in chapter five. Verse one says, now the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it to the house of Dagon and set it by Dagon, like a Philistine false god. When the Astrodites arose early in the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face, the statue, okay, fallen on his face to the ground before the Ark of the Lord. Right? That’s pretty cool, right?

I mean, inconvenient for them. You put the Ark in there and then the statue just fell right in front, bowing to the Ark of the Covenant. And so what did they decide to do? Oh boy, this was a bad idea. Let’s give them the Ark back. No, what does the text say? So they took Dagon and set him in his place again, the one they worshipped. Isn’t that kind of funny? Like, oh no, our God needs our help real quick. Let’s put him back up. This is super embarrassing.

But then we see in verse four, when they arose early the next morning, behold, Dagon had fallen on his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. And something was different this time. It says the head of Dagon was, and both the palms of his hand were cut off on the threshold. Only the trunk of Dagon was left to him. Symbols of power back then, especially, were hands, right? They could do things, and the head, of course, right?

Both of them had been dismembered. And so what they decide to do is they decide, well, this is problematic. And then God inflicts them with plague, with boils. And so they move it around. They’re like, maybe let’s just move it to a different city. So they went to Ashdod, same thing.

They were like, no, get this thing out of here, right? They had gath after that, get this thing out of here, this is really bad, and eventually got to Ekron. And we see in verse nine, before they went to Ekron, that there was a great confusion even in the city, and that God smote the men of the city, both young and old, so that tumors broke out on them. Yeah, get this thing out of here, right?

So eventually they devise a plan in chapter six to try and get the ark out. And so one of their own diviners, sort of prophets of the false god, said that they needed to create, in verse 4, five golden tumors, five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines, for one plague was on all of you and all your lords.

And ultimately, in verse 5, to give glory to the God of Israel. God will receive the glory. He received the glory in Dagon’s temple, received the glory there. and he will not tolerate superficial worship, and he will be glorified even among the nations. He always gets the last laugh.

So they decided, well, what we’re gonna do is we’re gonna put it on a cart, we’re gonna get two milk cows and attach this cart to these two milk cows and put the ark on it. And if they know how to walk together, they can go to Israel, we’ll know that this was of God. And I know some of you know more about cattle than I do. I don’t know a whole lot, but if you have two untrained milk cows, they probably don’t know how to carry the yoke really well together. And so it was a miracle and they ended up going towards Israel.

It’s an amazing thing, but some of the Israelites eventually received it in verse 19. They decided to open up the ark, which I mean, I mean, yeah, I don’t know. If we learn it from the Bible, learn it from Indiana Jones, not smart to open up the ark, right? It says that God struck down some of the men of Beth Shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the Lord, did not treat him as holy, very similar to the account of Uzzah. And so he struck down all of the people, 50,070 men. And then this causes the people to say, who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God, and to whom shall he go up from us? And so the Lord continues to be faithful to Israel as he had promised before, right?

Blessings for obedience and what for disobedience? curses in the Mosaic Covenant, God had made them his kingdom of priests and holy nation. In other words, that as they worshiped the holy God and treated him as holy and lived holy lifestyles, God would use them as a testimony to the outside nations. God would bless them and the other nations would want those blessings as well. They were not to adopt the practices of the other nations. They were not to allow them inside of their land that God had promised them. God was executing his judgment on those peoples, but also didn’t want their corrupting influence on them, on his people Israel as well.

And so verse 3 we see here, that Samuel says to all the house of Israel, if you return to the Lord with all your heart, remove the foreign gods and the Ashtoreth from among you, and direct your hearts to the Lord and serve him alone, then he will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines.

Once again, this is in the context of Old Testament Israel corporately. Mosaic covenant. It doesn’t mean that today we can misapply this to anything in our lives and just think, because I want this to happen, then God’s going to bless it. No, God had already promised Israel that if they worshiped him, then he would bless their efforts, and God had already promised the land.

So they’re believing in the promises of God here. Verse four says that they removed those idols and served the Lord alone. And in verse 14, we eventually see that the cities which the Philistines had taken from Israel were restored to Israel, showing that God was faithful to the Abrahamic covenant as well, the land, descendants, and blessing.

Verse 14 says that Samuel judged Israel all the days of his life. He operated as a judge as well. But chapter eight is the key. Chapter eight is the key to understanding the whole dilemma of this book. We read in verse one, it says, and it came about when Samuel was old, that he appointed his son’s judges over Israel. Now the name of his firstborn was Joel, and the name of his second, Abijah, and they were judging in Beersheba. But we see in verse three what? His sons did not walk in his ways. So they were evil, just like Eli’s sons.

And do you think the people liked that? They liked the hypocritical worship? Injustice? No. I was actually thinking about this this last week. Historically speaking, hypocritical worship has brought about much revolution among people. Like I was thinking about the hypocritical Roman Catholic Church in France before the French Revolution.

That was part of what caused the peasants to revolt. Or even with the Russian Bolshevik Revolution, right? Rasputin and the Romanov family. And the hypocrisy clearly seen with Rasputin, that caused the people and someone crazy like Vladimir Lenin to then gain power. And so in a similar way, the people are mad, but their heart posture is the problem.

They ask for a king, and it’s not bad for them to ask for a king. Deuteronomy, God had already given stipulations, right? Not to multiply horses for himself, to trust in God’s strength, not in his own. Not to multiply gold for himself, trusting God’s provision, not his own. Not to multiply wives, to trust God’s provision with having future generations and successors, rather than his own strength. But, this is the key in verse 5.

The problem is that they said, now appoint a king for us to judge us like what? All the nations. That’s the problem. That’s the problem. Was Israel supposed to be like all the nations? No, they were to be a kingdom of priests in a what? Holy nation set apart. God’s whole plan of the Old Testament to use Israel as a light to the rest of the dark, unbelieving world was to work through them being holy because God is holy. He’s not like the gods of the nations that are created in sinful man’s image. And so this is very problematic.

Verse seven, the Lord ends up saying to Samuel, listen to the voice of the people. in regard to all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them. Once again, it’s the heart posture. They don’t recognize God’s provision and his protection up until this point. We even think of our study in Judges, right? The angel of the Lord, reincarnate Christ coming, being present even in such a dark time.

And yet here, Israel is rejecting that and saying, no, we want a king like the rest of the nations. And so, God tells Samuel, tell them they’re gonna get what they want. They’re gonna get a king like the rest of the nations. And verses 10 through 18 talk about how they’re not gonna like it, but they’re gonna get exactly what they asked for. Taxation, many other things, an act of God’s judgment. Verse 19, nevertheless, the people refused to listen to the voice of Samuel. And they said, no, but there shall be a king over us that we also may be like, what?

All the nations that our king may judge us and go out before us and fight our battles. What an insult to God, as if he hadn’t already delivered them. I mean, Israel’s everything from like the very beginning from Exodus, right? And I mean, even before then you could go to Genesis, but like Israel as a nation corporately, when they were delivered from Egyptian slavery, was it just Moses’s strength that brought them out of Egypt?

Was it his wits? Was it his mouth? Remember his mouth? Oh, but I stutter, who am I, God? And God was like, yeah, I’ll be with you. Who are you? That’s the point. You don’t need self-esteem, you need God-esteem. God had led Israel to victory because he is sovereign and omnipotent. And yet they had rejected this, as if God hadn’t already been their king to judge them and go out before them and fight their battles. And so eventually, the Lord tells Samuel, go find a king, the one that I have chosen. In chapter nine, we see the introduction of Saul. Verse two said that this man, Saul, was a choice and handsome man.

You know, beauty and handsomeness is kind of subjective in our culture. But when it says it in the word of God, inspired, he must have absolutely been a very good looking guy. And it says as well, his shoulders were up from taller than the rest of the people. I mean, Nathaniel, I mean, this is kind of like you, right? Like, I mean, think of Nathaniel, super strong and tall, good looking. That’s exactly what’s going on here. And he was a Benjaminite. In verse one, verse one says that he was a Benjaminite. And where do we remember the Benjaminites from most recently in Israel’s history? We remember them from the end of the book of Judges. They were practically eradicated. They were very small now. There was very few left. So it wasn’t like God was looking to the strongest tribe.

And interestingly enough as well, if you remember Genesis, Jacob promises the Judah, what? The scepter would not depart from who? Judah. He’s not of Judah. This guy who’s going to be the king is not of Judah. So we should already be thinking something’s got to happen to this guy in order for the Genesis 49 10 prophecy to come about. And so we already kind of should be a little bit not totally on team on board with King Saul yet. Everything hasn’t looked that good. And he says in verse 21 that he’s a, am I not a Benjaminite of the smallest of the tribes of Israel and my family, the least of all the families of the tribe of Benjamin. Why then do you speak to me in this way?

But still, Saul’s outer appearance looked like a king like the rest of the nations. Like he is what the youth say. He was peak, right? He was peak in the eyes of the people. Like he was the guy, if we were to think of human strength, and yet God will show that that’s not ultimately what delivers Israel. And so Samuel anoints him in chapter 10, verse six says, he’s promised that the spirit of the Lord would come upon him mightily.

I think it’s similar to the judges, like Samson, where it’s not a hero, but God uses him in spite of him. And in verse 12, it’s funny, after he prophesied, it said, among the people, there was a common expression, is Saul also among the prophets? So at any time in ancient Hebrew culture, when they were surprised, they would also be like, is Saul not also among the prophets? I don’t know, I just kind of find that funny, especially when our slang these days don’t even mean anything. Six, seven. So Saul’s publicly chosen as a king. And when he’s brought before the people, it says in verse 21 at the end, they were looking for him, but what? He could not be found. This dude’s a coward. Verse 22, Therefore they inquired further of the Lord, Has the man come over here yet?

So the Lord said, Behold, Lord, God himself said, Behold, he is hiding himself by the baggage. He’s taller than everybody else and he’s trying. It’s like in the cartoons when you see like some big character trying to hide behind a little palm tree or something. Like impossible to hide and yet he’s just afraid. Goes to show trusting in himself rather than trusting in God. And just in case we didn’t know, in verse 23 it says again, he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward. God originally blesses Saul’s reign.

We see that in chapter 11. The verse one, we might be a little bit worried that it says Nahash the Ammonite came up and besieged Jebesh Gilead and all the men of Jebesh said to Nahash, make a covenant with us and we will serve you. Some of the people of Israel were making a covenant with outsiders, Ammonites. This isn’t problematic because in Deuteronomy 2 specifically, God said, I’m not executing my judgment on the Ammonites yet, so don’t need to drive them out of the land. They were in a different part of the land.

Verse six, it says, then the spirit of God came upon Saul mightily. And so whenever Saul does anything good, it’s because of God, not because of himself. And eventually they, yeah, yeah, God gives him great victory. Chapter 12, Samuel addresses Israel very similar to Moses in Deuteronomy. It’s kind of like a farewell address before he goes out into his kind of retirement, kind of, but not really. And he talks about how he was a judge, verse 11, and Samuel is the last one.

And verse 12 says, when you saw that Nahash the king of the sons of Ammon came against you, you said to me, no, but a king shall reign over us, although the Lord your God was your king. Once again, it’s not so much the king, so much as it is the heart posture behind it that’s problematic. And the final warning in verses 14 and 15, are if you will fear the lord and serve him and listen to his voice and not rebel against the command of the lord once again if you obey what are we to expect curses or blessings blessings right and that’s exactly what he says then um If you obey him, then the Lord will show both you and also the king a blessing. But verse 15 says, if you will not listen to the voice of the Lord, but rebel against the command of him, then the hand of the Lord will be against you as it was against your fathers.

In the time of the judges, right? They did what was right in their own eyes. There was no king back then, but God still, Israel being corporately in the Mosaic covenant, disciplining them for their covenantal disobedience. And so, yeah, this is sinful.

It says even in 19, it’s identified as a sin, wanting a king, not necessarily for the king, but the heart posture behind it. But they’re given the promise in verse 22, that the Lord will not abandon his people on account of his great name, because the Lord has been pleased to make you a people for himself. They are exhorted in verse 24 to only fear the Lord and serve him in truth with all your heart and to consider what great things he has done for them.

And so eventually in chapter 13, Saul goes up against the Philistines and he’s supposed to wait for Samuel. This is where we start to really see Saul’s true colors. And as he’s supposed to wait, he waits seven days, the text says. And then eventually he says, you know what, I’m not gonna wait for Samuel to give the sacrifice, I’m gonna do it myself, which is highly problematic, right? Because what tribe is Saul of? Benjamin, right? He’s a Benjaminite. And who was supposed to do the sacrifices? The Levites, right?

Very, very much so. And so we know Samuel is a Levite by birth, even though he was in a different location. And so Samuel is allowed to do that. He’s commanded to do that. That’s his role as priest, but Saul decides to take things into his own hands. And the Lord, do you think he liked that or he didn’t like that? Now, eventually, because of this, Samuel comes. The text is right after that. It’s very providential, his timing. And in verse 14, it says, Once again, God doesn’t look on the external appearance.

He looks at the heart. Saul looked like the right king in the people’s eyes. He was strong. He was handsome. He just seemed like the guy, if it was his own strength, he would be the most successful king. But the Lord says that he looks at the heart, and that’s what’s most important. He exalts the lowly and humbles the proud.

Chapter 14, we see his son, Saul’s son, Jonathan, is victorious. We see faith, demonstration of Jonathan’s faith, even though Saul hasn’t demonstrated that. Verse 10, he says that the Lord has given them into our hands if they see a certain thing, trusting in God’s provision. Verse 12, come up after me for the Lord has given them into the hands of Israel. He’s being portrayed very similar to Joshua. When they went around Jericho, right, shout, for the Lord has given us the city into our hand. Jonathan is portrayed as a good character, very, very different than his father.

The Lord was fighting for them. They had a great victory. And in verse 23 says that the Lord delivered Israel that day. It ultimately wasn’t their efforts. Saul has a foolish order, verses 24 through 46. It says that no one’s supposed to eat or anything until we end up getting victory. Jonathan was like, nah, saw some honey. And I love how the end of verse 27 says that his eyes were brightened. It’s like the biblical way of saying he had a sugar rush. And he was successful in that.

Saul was mad. He found out that Jonathan had broken that foolish order. And he even called for his son to be killed in verse 44. But the people in verse 45 said that, basically told him, no, he shouldn’t die. And so now what we see is Saul’s words mean nothing. When he makes an order, people can’t trust him. And he’s also not wise, like Jephthah and his rashfow in the book of Judges. So there was always war against the Philistines under Saul’s reign. Verse 52 says that. Saul did not experience peace, and I believe his reign was around 42 years. So it was a very turbulent reign for him. Saul disobeys again.

Verse 1, chapter 15, it says, then Samuel said to Saul, the Lord sent me to anoint you as king over his people, over Israel. Now, therefore, listen to the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel. how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him, but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey, as an act of God’s judgment on them. But we see in verse seven, it says Saul defeated the Amalekites, but in verse eight it says that he captured the king Agag, he didn’t put him to death, even though he utterly destroyed all the people. And he also, in verse nine, kept the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs. So this is highly, highly problematic. He did not obey. He did not obey.

God tells Samuel in verse 11, I regret that I have made Saul king. It doesn’t mean God regrets in the way you and I do. God never has a plan B. It’s always plan A with him. We even see, verse 29, It says that the glory of Israel will not lie or change his mind. That word for change his mind is the same exact word for regret in the original. For he is not a man that he should change his mind.

I think that this word regret here is best understood as a distaste for sin. that God was very displeased at Saul’s actions and so when he says he regrets it’s not in the way like I regret making that decision and would have done something different but instead just demonstrates his distaste for sin.

Samuel eventually tells Saul, verse 33, as your sword has made women childless, so shall your mother be childless among women. And then Samuel after that hacked Agag, the king, to pieces before the Lord, seeking to be obedient. And the focus of this whole crazy story is in verse 22, Samuel said that, I know we’re jumping all over, but, behold to obey is better than sacrifice.

And that God had rejected Saul as king because of that. And what he was saying there is, look, God couldn’t care less if you are just superficial on the outside. If you are just trying to make, you know, trying to look like you’re going through the motions and everyone else thinks you’re right before him, but your heart is far from him. No, God’s way is both of the heart and external as well. So we see at the end of verse 35, the Lord regretted that he had made Saul king over Israel.

But as we know from our previous studies, this wasn’t plan B. I mean, even in the book of Ruth, right? What’s the focus of the book of Ruth at the very end? Whose genealogy? Christ, yes. And before Christ, David, right? God had already been planning for David to be king. We think of his plans with bringing Salmon and Rahab together, right? Like Rahab, redeeming her. Their son Boaz meeting Ruth, and Obed their son, and he having Jesse, and Jesse eventually having David.

We’re reminded of that promise in Genesis 49.10, that the scepter would not depart from Judah. But some way, somehow, God would cause the tribe of Judah to have rulers, have kings, and eventually one who would have no end to his reign. And this, as a result, should cause us to be looking for this king. And who is it? We’ll see next week, is David throughout the rest of 1 and 2 Samuel. Let’s pray. Lord, thank you for your word, for the encouragement that it brings.

We know, Lord, that to obey is better than sacrifice, Lord, that right heart posture is important. It doesn’t matter how much, Lord, we read our Bibles, how much we pray, how much we come to church, how much we give to the poor, how much we serve, whatever it is, Lord, we know fundamentally, unless you change our hearts, Lord, we are hopeless. And so Lord, we pray that you would continue to refine us, to make our motives more pure, to be more in align with you of serving you and serving others. So that Lord, that our externals, it wouldn’t just be externals, that there would be something deeper, something internal, something in our hearts, that everything would be an act of worship to you, not for self or for any other reason.

We thank you for your word, for the encouragement that it brings, seeing your faithfulness to Israel by building up for yourself a perpetual throne in the line of Judah. And even with David, Lord, we know this ultimately points to you, yourself, and praise you as King of Kings and Lord of Lords, reigning and ruling forever. And it’s in your name we pray these things. Amen. Next week, we’ll go over the second half of 1 Samuel.